papered geldings

["Brickson" <brickson@delanet.com>]

Registration of geldings is very important!  You never know where the horse
you raised will end up.  If it ends up in an auction without papers, you
might assume it is not purebred, or even a Morgan.  Maybe some buyers want
to make sure they increase their odds of getting good endurance material by
increasing the chance of getting a high percentage of slow-twitch muscle.

The biggest reason, though, is the tracking.  If YOU buy an unregistered
horse from a breeder, You may see and hear all about its ancestors' and
brethren's deeds, but the next buyer will get less information from You, and
the next buyer even less information, until all you have is some part
Arab-looking dirty skinny somewhat scared dish-faced horse at an auction
owned by some dealer who just wants to unload it to pay for his cigarettes
and beer.

It is mentally easier to buy an unknown Arabian at an auction if the dealer
has registration papers or at least a freezemark because you have a much
better chance of tracking down the previous owner(s) to find out answers to
some really important questions:  how much training, what uses, any bad
experiences, why sold, exact age if aged, previous performance achievements
or those of relatives.  It doesn't guarantee you will find these answers,
however.  For example, I may never know anything about my new mare's past;
the owner on her registration papers, in TX, doesn't remember any filly/mare
named Mi Cre Cre.  She may never have seen her.  Her breeder sold her the
day she was born in AZ.  The dealer had her for a month, traveling from one
sale to another with a bunch of QHs.

bb
Jeff and Bridget Brickson